Staying Organized and Left Brain or Right Brain Quiz
I often joke that I have adult onset ADD – and I mean no harm or insult to anyone who has actually been diagnosed with ADD. But, I have a couple of problems that make me think that it’s no joke or is something else entirely. I am habitually late for almost everything, I have a hard time organizing myself and don’t make good use of time. It could be that since leaving my full time job several years ago, I’ve assumed the task of running the house, making all the appointments, being the main care giver to my daughter, and am trying to run a small business – make that micro business all at the same time. If I only had to be responsible for myself, I think I’d be fine because I could work when I’m most productive even if that’s 3:00am or dinner time. Therein lies part of the problem – I have to work my schedule around my family’s schedule, both of whom keep normal hours. At this point, I think realizing that there’s a problem is the first step in making everything more manageable and enjoyable for everyone. While I won’t bore you with my day to day family/mom lists, I’ll share some techniques I’ve recently decided to implement in the studio.
Studio Log – I chose the lowly black and white composition notebook because it makes me feel a little nostalgic in a good way.
The other day, I listened to a NPR podcast while walking my dogs in the morning and the topic happened to be ADD and how to help children with ADD navigate through school more enjoyably and successfully. My ears perked up and I decided that I could benefit from some of the strategies mentioned.
- Clean work area to minimize noise and distractions. Check – I’ve cleaned my studio and have also started cleaning my computer files and home, which is going to take considerably longer than a day. Less clutter and dirt helps me find stuff quickly and is better Qi.
- Making Lists of what needs to be accomplished daily, weekly, monthly and yearly and keeping the list visible to help manage time efficiently. I used to be a list maker and have fallen out of the habit, so I decided to start fresh. I’m keeping a list for day to day stuff as well as a studio log of things I need to do and how much time I work in the studio during the week. It’s still fresh, so we’ll see whether this works or not.
- Prioritize tasks. It sounds sort of anal retentive, but in all honesty, seeing the list helps me to prioritize my tasks and obligations. I enjoy the research of starting a new project and am a day dreamer by nature, but those have to be put on hold until I fulfill the tasks on my to do list.
- Take good notes and make observations. This became very apparent to me yesterday when I glazed a few test tiles with a cone 6 pink glaze recipe left over from July. It took me a several minutes to orient myself and to make some educated guesses as to what I was thinking during that process. I’m sure it made total sense at the time, but now that a few months has elapsed between dates, it’s a little foggy. All my notes are a jumble of loose papers and aren’t dated. I mixed up 3 batches of the same base glaze, but didn’t label the containers and had printed 4 recipes that I had placed on top of the containers – but didn’t indicate which of the 4 recipes I actually used. I was able to deduct from my tick marks which one it was in the end – but how much time did I waste in the process?
- Date and mark the time spent in the studio. Seeing the cold hard data is very revealing. I’ve already acknowledged that I work in the studio part time based on the hours available to me right now, so adding dates and hours worked will help with book keeping and also hold me accountable to work at least 20 hours a week in the studio.
- Consult list regularly.
My studio log is separate from my glaze notes and kiln log and I hope it will become valuable as I attempt to be more productive. Here are my most recent entries:
Studio log entries
I also realize that I need to be flexible, adjust the list as necessary and be nice to myself. Yesterday, I had a full day planned in the studio but my daughter and I were both feeling under the weather. I felt better by the afternoon and did get one task checked off my list, but everything else was added to today’s schedule.
On a related note, fiber artist, Lisa Call, began writing an ongoing series on “Scrum Training” and how it relates to making art in August. I have been following her posts with anticipation and am very intrigued by the concept, which is really a framework for managing software development. This seemed like the perfect post to add her insight about scrum and how it relates to the art world. If only I had half as much discipline as Lisa does…she is a single mom of two, works full time as a software engineer, and manages to make a prolific amount of art work in her free time. How does she do it? I think she’s a good time manager or needs significantly less sleep than me.
Meanwhile, creative people are often thought to be more “right brain” oriented while technically minded people tend to rely on their “left brain” functions. I think it takes a balance of both to be a successful artist like Lisa (although the term success is itself subjective). Wikipedia has a good explanation of how the different lobes of the brain function. My daughter gave me a few right brain vs. left brain quizzes last week – and it’s not really surprising that I scored more right brained points than left. It’s no wonder why I need to make lists to stay on top of life! Want to try a few simple tests to see if you’re more right or left brained? Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 3. Feel free to share your results.
So whether or not I have ADD or my left brain skills are deficient, I hope to be more productive, punctual and conscientious which requires me to unplug a little more frequently. With that said, I’m signing off for the day.
~Cynthia
Living Simply and How Does Making Pottery Fit In?
Hand built relief printed white stoneware boxes fresh from the bisque kiln.
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been very productive lately when it comes to making any new work. I am not sure if it’s the awful news of late and all of the political campaign noise that’s distracting me or if it is the result of my mom duties or that I have been questioning whether or not I should even make pottery. To relate it in pottery terms, I feel like I have been looking for answers in a murky throwing bucket before the clay slurry has had a chance to settle to the bottom leaving clear water on top. Maybe my inattentiveness and reluctance to enter my studio is a combination of all of the above. It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about clay either – it’s something more.
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Oh for Carpe Diem‘s sake, Cynthia, stop over analyzing everything! Just do it already and start making work and posting pretty pictures again.” I’ve decided to edit the political, financial, religious and mom stuff out of my original post and am going to cut to the chase today.
Here is part of what it comes down to: I’ve been a little hung up on making things to sell to other people when I’ve been trying to live a simpler less consumer driven life.
The philosophy of “living simply“ has ties to Transcendentalism, Epicureanism, Conservation, Social Justice, Sustainable Development, Ascenticsm, Taoism, Buddhism, and even Anarchism. According to social scientist and author of Voluntary Simplicity, Duane Elgin describes voluntary simplicity “as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living.”
By now, you’re either fully tuned out, or you’re saying, “Get to the point, sister!”
In the past few months, I’ve considered selling all my equipment and doing something else – something more service oriented. In the past few days, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that potters are part of an ancient tradition of making functional and decorative hand crafted work and are passing their knowledge to future artists. A hand made mug does cost quite a bit more than a cheap mass produced one from China sold at big box stores, but that purchase is also supporting a lifestyle that very well could become extinct. Now more than ever before, the arts are a necessary component of a healthy and balanced society. In a way, people like me as well as everyone listed in my blogroll on the right hand side bar, along with artisans around the world are sustaining an important tradition. In essence, the act of making and purchasing hand crafted items is a conscious choice that fits well into the philosophy of living a simpler life.
One of the fathers of the movement, Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden while living in a simple cabin outside town as an experiment to live close to nature with minimal personal stuff in the 1800’s. While I know life is more complicated than it was in the 19th C, and can’t really be compared or viewed in utopian or romantic terms, a place like Walden Pond sure sounds pretty enticing right now. Maybe my husband and daughter will be up for Thoreauesque experiment in the near future.
Either way, I feel like the clay slurry has settled and after letting my neuroses ferment for awhile, I realize that I am in the right place right now. I haven’t been taking advantage of the 6 uninterrupted hours I have available 5 days a week, to make work while my daughter is in school. All I lack right now is a little bit of discipline and the research stage has gone on long enough – time to start working in the studio.
Meanwhile, I took a close look at the work that I bisque fired the other day and am happy with the relief printed boxes and mugs. The work didn’t warp or crack and the design is crisp.
That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
LeRoy and Follow Up on Inspiration Post
LeRoy – mixed media movable sculpture
Remember the post I wrote about the “Mixed Media Movable Sculpture” class that I taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center about a month ago? I finally got around to photographing my sculpture that I made in advance of the class to show my students. He’s been sitting on my piano ever since I returned home, just hangin’ with some ceramic bugs that my daughter and I made last year. I sort of forgot about him, until yesterday when one of my daughter’s buds was over and made a bee-line for him. You can see the sculptures my student’s made by clicking here.
LeRoy's fancy wingtip shoes,
I had a lot of fun making this sculpture which is really a caricature of my dog, Danzig, who we adopted in April from Front Range German Shepherd Rescue. Incidentally, we didn’t change his name because we decided that he had lived with this name for the past 6 years and it might add stress upon relocation stress to change it when he came to live with us. We think he was named after the the ’80′s heavy metal band of the same name, though Danzig is also the German version of the Polish town, Gdansk. We think it’s the former, however, since his previous owners kept him locked in a garage for most of his life. We’ve discovered a few issues over the past few months, but love him anyway. Despite his intense dislike of anything on wheels, he’s a goofy, gentle, lovable and good looking dog – this is what I think he would look like if he had a few human qualities thrown in. My daughter has christened Danzig’s effigy, “LeRoy Guajardo”, after I asked for help naming him.
My movable mixed media sculpture is constructed with low fire earthenware clay, wire, wood, fabric, stuffing, thread, beads, acrylic paint, glue, nichrome wire and a few misc. items that I can’t recall at the moment.
Meanwhile, I wanted to revise my last post on inspiration. I am not lacking inspiration and have a ton of it floating around in my head right now. I’m merely finding it difficult to switch gears from teaching and writing lesson plans to creating my own work. It’s taking me longer to do so than normal. Mary commented that it’s okay to take a break once in awhile and to just breathe. Beth emailed me and mentioned that teaching and creating use different parts of our brains and it gave me more food for thought.
Then yesterday, I listened to a podcast of Craftcast’s Alison Lee interviewing photographer Kathleen Carr and I felt validated just a bit afterwards. One of the things the two discussed was the notion that if an artist isn’t creating every single day then are they really just a pseudo artist?. The answer is no, that’s not true. We are constantly gathering information, inspiration, and formulating a creative response even when not making any work directly.
At the end of the podcast, Alison mentioned a gift one of her friends had given her. It’s an “inspiration tray” to store and display items that one finds interesting sort of like a creative incubator.
After listening to the podcast, I was reminded of the slide show that Dan Essig presented at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in July and his inspiration files. He showed a couple of slides of all the things he has collected over the years since childhood that he keeps in tiny little boxes in his studio. It was fascinating and it looked like he had 100′s, if not 1,000′s of little boxes filled with collected bits and pieces that he finds interesting – some of his collected artifacts even ends up in his sculptural mixed media books when the time is right.
I think I’m going to give the inspiration tray a try and I can start by adding the seed pods (see last post) to the tray so that my thoughts and ideas can develop and grow.
~Cynthia
Inspiration – Where is it?
Honey locust seed pods
After walking my daughter to the school bus stop in the morning, my dogs and I have resumed our daily walks in Washington Park which is just a couple of blocks from our home. It’s an amazing park and quite popular with humans and dogs alike. The honey locust trees have a fruit that looks like a huge seed pod (apparently edible) that are just starting to ripen – though a few have already fallen to the ground, most likely the work of industrious squirrels. I picked a couple of pods up the other day and brought them home because I just love the shape. By autumn, the pods will have grown longer and often twist and curl making the most pleasing shapes.
Cosmos with bee gathering pollen
Meanwhile, the cosmos in my yard are bursting with a riot of color that has attracted almost every single bee in the neighborhood. I have cosmos all over the yard and believe it or not, they all self seeded from a single plant from last year’s garden. They’re so prolific and almost impossible to kill – I wonder why they’re not on the noxious weed list. Good thing I like them. This year, I even moved seedlings with no harmful effects and even dog pee can’t kill or maim these flowers.
Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes
The bees are great for my little garden patch! Not many of my cherry tomatoes have made their way into a salad or recipe, because I often stop and pop all the ripe ones I find in my mouth like candy whenever I pass by. I have larger tomatoes growing too, along with basil, lemon thyme, chives, cilantro and other herbs. This is the first year in a long time that I’ve grown any edible plants.
Now that my daughter has started school again, I thought I would be much more productive in the studio. I haven’t been because I’m catching up with busy work related to some of my PTA volunteer duties such as updating the auction website and all the related forms etc. The auction is being moved to November from February this school year and now that the date is only 2 full months + a few days away, we have some serious catch up work to do to make this happen. Last year we raised $45,000 after expenses and hope to match or exceed last year’s totals. It’s a huge job. I wasn’t going to do anything with the auction this year since I spent 2 years as marketing and pr chair, but guess what? I’m back in the thick of it.
Ya know that feeling when you have something you want to do (in my case it’s getting back to the studio), but you don’t quite have time to get to it? It’s sort of frustrating. Now that I have most of the work done for the auction for the time being, I’m hoping to move on next week.
I guess I have to content myself with those things that I do find inspiring for the time being cause it sure isn’t in the studio right now.
~Cynthia
